ruining?… to the man that teaches yoga as Jois, Iyengar and most true yoga teachers from India teach–> with tons of discipline and very little patience for laziness… to the man that has taken Hatha yoga to more people than anyone else in history? I love when people ask him what he thinks about being called the McDonalds of Yoga, to which he replies: Good! I am the biggest. That was my mission from my Guru, to bring Yoga to the West.

Hello Mary From 1999 – 2004 I practiced Bikram Yoga on average 5 times per week. I've taught over 4000 Bikram classes. As human being go, Bikram is charming fellow who has made an amazing contribution to humanity. But this silliness about "lock the knee" is so overrated. Look, if you hyper-extend any joint (whether it's a shoulder, knee, elbow, hip), you lose the capacity to lengthen out your core which I define as the space from your pelvic floor to your solar plexus. Once you lose the capacity to lengthen out of your core, any asana has reduced value.

So many Bikram yogis stop practicing after 3 – 4 years because they injure themselves by over-stretching the soft tissue in the joints. And they don't know to heal themselves. The Hot Yoga that was so healing becomes their undoing. Isn't it odd how many people have gone through Bikram's training & are no longer in the business of teaching Bikram Yoga? Bikram himself does NOT practice Bikram Yoga. When I last saw Raj, which was admittedly awhile ago (I got so disgusted with Bikram for calling Rajashri "a bitch" because she refused to do an impromtu advanced posture demo that I just could not participate in Bikram's universe anymore.) Anyway Raj's body looked like a wreck from over-stretching her knees, neck, shoulders. So can we get away from the language of a "locked knee" & just describe the joint? Is the knee hyper-extended? Or is it slightly bent? Does the quad muscle group support the body's weight? Or is the joint supporting the weight? Is the spine lengthening from the inside out in the posture? From my perspective, these are the important questions.

If Bikram Yoga fails to address these sort of fundamental body mechanic issues, eventually the instruction will need to improve. Or it will lose relevance in the market. You sound like an ardent Bikram Yoga practitioner & possibly a teacher. Great! If you wish to discuss any of these issues in greater detail, I'd be happy to hear your views.
Peter Sklivas
Beverly Farms, MA
Yoga Passion

Guys, I realize there's been some time since someone posted here but I'll still add this: there's a lot more to this subject than meets the eye. For a little bit more info. on the Bikram-Iyengar connection see this article: http://www.yogachicago.com/nov10/bikram.shtml.

Beyond that, we have two yoga styles which can take the practitioner to the same destination. We have two yogis who respect each other and share a connection. There's no need to throw stones either way.

HE is rubbing his head so that all pervertness will calm down and he become good human being start respecting women and and treat young girls as a his daughter not as sex object he got sue on sexual harrasment case hope he will get hard punishment

It was just a joke. I have no problem with Bikram or with Yoga in the Olympics. So it wouldn't be much of a debate. I'm a Yoga Universalist. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to clarify. Did they make you laugh?

I agree. An Editor is not responsible for opinions expressed by authors. Having been the News Editor of a publication here in New York, I am clear that the responsibility of an Editor is to check facts.

The author in question here, however, is not expressing his opinion. He is attempting to write a history of hot yoga in America.

His attempt to document this history contains several factual errors. One of which is that the logic behind locking the knee in Bikram yoga is because “it looks pretty.” While it may be true that a locked knee looks pretty, it is certainly not the reason why we want to master this particular aspect of the practice. This is a fact that could have and should have been easily checked by reading Bikram’s books (where he speaks extensively on the physical, mental and spiritual benefits of learning to lock your knee) asking him your self, or simply calling his Headquarters in Los Angeles.

As it stands now in your publication, the comment is flip, ignorant and totally misleading. It paints Bikram Yoga and Bikram in a ridiculous light.

All joking aside, your derogatory comments about Bikram in the beautiful photo of Bikram and BKS Iyengar give an indication of your personal preferences and opinions. Perhaps your opinion of Bikram and his yoga got in the way of your responsibilites as an Editor. That is the issue I have with the publication.

I look forward to responding to this piece should you decide to publish.

Please trust me, Mary. I have nothing against Bikram. Yogadork asked for funny captions and I made up some funny captions. That's it. Please take me at my word on this. It was a joke where a joke was asked for! Nothing more.

As for the Bikram article in Yoga in America, Peter was a direct Bikram disciple for many years, so I'm sure he knows all the counter-arguments and would be happy to discuss your objections. I thought the article as a whole was quite positive toward Bikram and it's very interesting history, but I agree Peter expressed some negative feelings as well.

In any case, I'll try to get Peter to agree to respond directly to your comments when I post his article.

But if you feel so strongly about it, why don't you discuss it directly with Peter now? That would make a lot more sense than being upset with me! His website is YogaPassion.com.